Why Try Scuba Diving Part #4 - One Step Closer to Becoming a Full Time PADI Open Water Scuba Dive Instructor

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Why Try Scuba Diving Part #4 - One Step Closer to Becoming a Full Time PADI Open Water Scuba Dive Instructor

Robbie Wyckoff
on February 28th, 2018

Hi there, Robbie here with blog #4 for Barrier Reef Australia. Today I would like to tell you all about my next level of education in becoming a full time PADI Open Water Scuba Dive Instructor and more precisely about my PADI Rescue Diver course.

Photo Courtesy of Tourism Tropical North Queensland

Our PADI advance open water course was a great deal of excitement and was just the second step towards becoming a full time PADI Open Water Scuba Dive Instructor, but first we were required to obtain more experience in what is referred to as “fun dives.”

Even though we were now certified advance divers, we still had a great deal to learn before moving forward.

Photo: Robbie Wyckoff

Now that I’d completed my first deep and drift dives, my love for sharks became even more of a passion.

So each day I would sign up for the 5:30am thresher shark dive.

I didn’t mind the early rise each morning as I was motivated by the idea of diving with threshers and a cup of coffee helped as we drove out to the site.

The dive site is known worldwide for its year round thresher sharks. So divers from all over venture to Malapascua just to see those beautiful creatures.

And as part of our dive master course, it’s required that we practice our skills by diving more and more until we had reached the number of dives needed to be certified as a professional.

But of course we needed to add another certification before beginning the DM process.

Photo Courtesy of Pro Dive Cairns

Next on our list was the PADI Rescue Diver course but, before starting, we spent a day in the classroom completing the Emergency First Responder (EFR) portion of the training.

This gave us the necessary knowledge and skills for in and out of water rescue in first aid as well as CPR.

Without the EFR course, the rescue diver training wouldn’t have made much sense and is recommended to be completed before the start of the Rescue Diver course.

The class was extremely useful and it gave us the confidence and know how to complete the in water rescue scenarios.

But before each final rescue scenario, we were given ten different smaller scenarios to which helped us demonstrate the proper techniques to approaching divers who were responsive and unresponsive.

These were of the most important in confidence building to which is the overall goal of being a rescue diver.

Photo Courtesy of Pro Dive Cairns

The studying portion of the training was built into videos and knowledge reviews similar to that of the open water course.

Once again each video and section of the rescue book had to be completed before the in water activities.

Without the videos and knowledge reviews, I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what was going on during the in water sessions.

Photo Courtesy of Pro Dive Cairns

My girlfriend was able to be the victim in my rescue scenarios. Unfortunately for her, I was able to be the victim in hers.

It was a great deal of work for my lady seeing’s how I am twice her size. Our instructors asked me to assist a bit in helping her with having to lift me.

I found this to be quite amusing. She, not so much. However, the rescue diver course was a fun time in pretending and having to save each other.

We laughed quite a bit during each scenario as we had to try and keep a straight face.

Overall, we really enjoyed that course and it gave us a new level of confidence as certified divers.

All in all we had a great time completing this next level and we were even more pumped to advance our diving certifications even further.

Photo Courtesy of Tourism Tropical North Queensland

Take a peek at some of the scuba diving courses you can do here on Australia’s amazing Great Barrier Reef.

I would also recommend a liveaboard trip; spending a night or more ON the Great Barrier Reef is trully something amazing.

Robbie Wyckoff

Hi my name is Robbie Wyckoff and I am a full time PADI Open Water Scuba Diving Instructor who now works all over the world teaching people how to scuba dive and discover the amazing underwater world on our planet.

Man, the things you do for your girl!
In saying that I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful gal who grew up in the great Australian outdoors and that means she loves to get me out in the country and show me all the fun things to do...

Man, the things you do for your girl!
In saying that I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful gal who grew up in the great Australian outdoors and that means she loves to get me out in the country and show me all the fun things to do...

How long does it take to get to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns? It very well may seem like a simple and easy question to answer, however, there are so many variables that make the answer not quite as straight forward as you may have initially thought.

No matter whether you are a snorkeller or a certified scuba diver, there are number of amazing Great Barrier Reef experiences that are a once in a lifetime absolutely ‘must do’.
And a Minke Whale snorkel and dive Expedition is one of those that should be on your list!